A Live-Action ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Series Is Headed to Netflix

Last summer, we first got word that a live-action version of the classic Japanese anime series Cowboy Bebopwas in development. And now we know where the show is headed: To Netflix. I mean, there was always a good chance, right? The odds that any new show is going to Netflix is almost even at this point.

Here is how Netflix sums up the series in the press release:

Based on the worldwide phenomenon from Sunrise Inc., Cowboy Bebop is the jazz-inspired, genre-bending story of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Radical Ed: a rag-tag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their pasts as they hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals. They’ll even save the world…for the right price.

The series is scheduled for a 10-episode run. Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the original anime, is involved as a “consultant.”

The general reaction to this news has been very lukewarm online, and I can see why; anime has not tended to translate well to American live-action. (And Netflix’s own track record in this arena hasn’t been amazing so far. See: Death Note.) From Netflix’s perspective it makes total sense; get control of one of the biggest brands in anime. That’s what they’re doing these days: Locking down these huge brands everyone knows that aren’t locked down elsewhere. (Yesterday, their big announcement was a bunch of series based on Roald Dahl novels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) The release doesn’t specify a premiere date for the new Cowboy Bebop, but I’d expect the show to debut either late next year or early 2020.